To Be A Mother
by MermaidsandLace
Summary: Spoilers for F8. Letty decides her role in a certain someone's life.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright guys, I saw The Fate of the Furious on Thursday night and again tonight. I've been struggling with the whole concept considering the age of that baby doesn't correlate with the time between the films, which usually represents the real passage of time. The ending was also a little awkward for me. They seemed to have Dom just assume that Letty would be okay with it and that was exactly how she acted. I know Letty would eventually come to terms with it, but I thought there should have been a moment where Dom considered her feelings. So I wrote this piece after seeing the movie again tonight and it may turn into a two or three-shot, I'm not sure yet. Drop a review and let me know what you think!**

 **Lacey**

"He finally fell asleep." Dom said to Letty as he entered their bedroom in the New York condo.

Letty muttered something incoherent to him, dropping something into the drawer of the bedside table and quickly closing it.

Dom's eyebrows furrowed, but he decided not to question it. "We should talk." He said, perching himself on the edge of the bed. "Everything happened so fast. I haven't had a chance to ask you how you feel."

Letty's eyes widened at his words. "I, I don't," She stumbled over her words. "I don't really know what to say."

"Just tell me how you feel, Let. Honestly."

Sighing, she dropped her eyes to her lap. "I know it's selfish, but I'm your wife, Dom. I was supposed to give you your first child, your first son." She lifted her head to look at him, her eyes shining with tears, her voice cracking as she said her next words. "It was supposed to be me."

Shifting closer to her, Dom wrapped his arms around his wife and brought her head to his chest. "I'm so sorry, Letty." He whispered to her, his own eyes wet with tears. "I know this isn't how we pictured starting our family, like how we talked about it in Cuba, but we can still have that, Letty. I never imagined having a child with anyone but you. I still want that family we talked about, Letty. That little girl that looks just like you. I hope you still do too."

Lifting her head from his chest, she looked at him in confusion. "Of course, I want that, Dom." Allowing him to wipe her cheeks with his thumbs, she pulled back to better look at him. "This doesn't change that."

Dom nodded as a tear slid down his cheek. "Good. Because I don't want to do this without you."

Grabbing his hands in both of hers, she brought them to her lips. "I'm not going anywhere, Dom. You said it yourself; I've never turned my back on you and I never will." Dropping their hands to her lap, she said, "It's just going to take me some time to get used to this. You already know how to love him. I have to learn that. And I will. I know I will because he's a part of you. I may not be his mother, but I'll be whatever that little boy needs."

"He needs _you_. You're going to be the only mother he knows, Let."

Looking down at their hands, she ran her thumb over his knuckles. "Yes, but she'll always be his mother, Dom. He needs to know about her."

"And we'll tell him. Together." Dipping his head, he waited for her to meet him halfway.

She leaned forward, meeting his lips in a tender kiss before pulling her hands from his. Opening the drawer on the bedside table, she pulled out a white envelope.

"What's that?" Craning his neck, he just made out his wife's name on the front of the envelope.

"Deckard gave it to me before he left. It was in Brian's crib." She carefully placed it on the bed, titling her head in contemplation.

"Elena?" Dom asked quietly.

Letty only nodded, bringing a hand up to massage the back of her neck.

"Do you want to be alone?"

Letty seemed to struggle with an answer, her eyes never moving from the letters of her name written in Elena's script.

"I'll just be downstairs." Dom decided for her, placing a kiss on her forehead before standing from the bed. "I love you."

"I love you too." She waited until she could no longer hear his footsteps before she picked up the envelope again. Turning it over in her hands, she took a deep breath as she slid her finger under the flap, pulling the single sheet of paper from it. Unfolding it, her eyes scanned over the delicate written words.

 _Letty,_

 _If you're reading this then that means I'm gone. I have little faith that I will get out of this alive, but the only person that matters is this little boy. I'm so sorry I didn't tell the two of you sooner, but you deserved to have your time together when you came back. I was planning to tell you when you came back from Cuba, but Cipher had already taken us. I can't imagine what you're feeling right now, but I want you to know that I never wanted to come between you and Dom. When he found out that you were alive, I told him to go find you because I know it's what I would have done for my husband. I made Dom promise that he would save our son and I know he will. But I need you to make a promise to me too, Letty. Promise me that you will love my son as if he's your own. I know that this isn't how you expected to become a mother, but my son needs you. If I'm no longer able to be his mother, I would be honored if you would raise my son with Dom and give him the life he deserves. Protect him. Love him. Let him love you back. And when he's old enough, tell him about me and how I left him with the only other woman that could love him as much as I do._

 _I trust you,_

 _Elena_

Letty dropped the letter to the bed, clasping a hand over her mouth as a sob escaped her throat. With tears running down her cheeks, she wept for the mother that little boy lost. She'd once told Elena that she was an amazing woman and that held to be true. Elena had known she wasn't getting away from Cipher alive, but her last thought had been of her son and the only other woman that she trusted to help Dom raise him.

Her.

That little boy was a part of her life now and she owed it to Elena to keep him safe. She could be the mother he needed. The mother he deserved. She'd learned long ago that blood didn't mean everything. He didn't have to be her blood for her to love him.

As she dried her tears and slid the letter back into the envelope, she heard a small cry from the room across the hall. Placing the envelope in the drawer of the bedside table, she stood from the bed and made her way to little Brian's room.

Supporting himself with his small hands on the railing, the little boy stood unsteadily in his crib and peeked up at her as she entered the room. Whimpering, he lifted one of his little hands and reached out to her.

Letty considered calling for Dom, but as Brian continued to reach for her, she found herself approaching him. Placing her hands under his arms, she carefully lifted him out of the crib and into her arms.

Cheeks wet with tears, the little boy immediately relaxed against her, burying his head in the crook of her neck.

Letty rested her cheek against the top of his head, rubbing a soothing hand up and down his back. And in that moment, she knew that she would do anything to protect him. With a single tear running down her cheek, she whispered, "I promise."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, I'm back with a second chapter for this short fic! I did decide to make this a three-shot, so there will be one more chapter. I'm still struggling with the whole baby thing, but I'm trying to make the best of it lol. So I hope you all enjoy this update!**

 **Lacey**

Letty Toretto was frantically running around the New York condo, picking up various toys and other objects that the youngest member of the household had left strewn around the living room.

The little boy responsible for the mess was watching her intently from the playpen in the corner of the room. Standing unsteadily on his little legs, his hands gripping the side of the playpen, and big, brown eyes following her every move.

The transition into parenthood hadn't been an easy one for neither her nor Dom. It had taken both of them time to get to know the little boy that had entered their lives so unexpectedly. To learn his likes and dislikes, his routines, his ways of communicating what he wanted or needed. They had settled on calling him by the name Elena had given him, Marcos. It was, after all, the only thing he had left of her.

There had been many long days and nights where Letty struggled with her role and how to create a connection with this little boy that wasn't naturally there. But the more time she spent with him, the more she got to know him and his unique little personality, the easier it became.

Cursing under her breath as she stepped on a toy that immediately began singing some sort of tune, Letty turned to little Marcos with a smile on her face when he let out an innocent giggle. "You think that's funny, bud?" She asked in a silly voice.

The boy giggled again and clapped his tiny hands together.

Approaching the playpen, she crouched down to be at eye level with him. "Yeah, you think that's funny, huh?" She said in the same silly voice, reaching out to tickle him.

Marcos giggled loudly, his fingers grasping at strands of her hair. Playing with her hair was something he did constantly and one of the only things that could get him to go to sleep when he was fussy.

Letty smiled at the sound of his laugh and gently pulled his hands from her hair. "I'll be done in just a minute, bud. Then I'll get you out of there." Turning around, she bent down to pick up the toy she'd stepped on when she heard his soft voice.

"Mama." He said happily, followed by another giggle.

Letty's hand froze just above the toy on the floor and she slowly straightened herself, spinning back around to look at him, her eyes wide.

"Baby," Dom said to her as he entered the living room, his arms full of barbecue supplies. "I'm going to take this stuff up to the roof. Everyone is going to be he-" He cut himself off when he noticed the look on her face. "What's wrong?" He followed her eyes, noticing that Marcos was intently looking up at her, as if expecting her to say something. "Why are you two looking at each other like that?" He turned back to his wife, who still hadn't moved or even blinked since he walked into the room.

Marcos squealed and bounced up and down on his toes, unsatisfied with the silence. "Mama!" He said again, this time louder and while pointing a little finger at Letty.

Dom's eyes grew wide, his head jerking in the direction of his son. "Did you-" Whipping his head back and forth between his wife and son, he said, "Did he-" Dropping everything in his arms onto the couch, he quickly made his way over to Marcos, lifting him up and onto his hip. "Did you say 'Mama'?" He excitedly spoke to Brian, making his way back over to Letty. "Is that Mama?" Dom asked Marcos, pointing at Letty.

"Mama!" Marcos exclaimed again, reaching his arms out to her.

Letty seemed to snap out of her trance, allowing Dom to place the little boy in her arms.

"Mama." He said again, patting her cheek with his small hand.

Eyes becoming blurry with tears, she breathed a shaky breath. "I'm here, baby." She assured him, kissing his head.

Marcos smiled a wide grin at her before settling his head on her shoulder.

Dom smiled at their interaction, wrapping an arm around his wife and pressing his lips to her hair.

Noticing that Marcos's eyes were fluttering and one of his little fists grasped her hair, she turned to Dom and said, "I'll take him upstairs."

Dom only nodded and stepped aside.

Carefully making her way up the stairs, Letty rounded the wall into the hallway, turning into the first room on the right. Gently lying him down in his crib, she ran her fingers through the little wisps of his hair as he snuggled into the mattress.

She'd officially adopted Marcos a few months ago after a very nervous Dom had come home with adoption papers, the only blanks being the spaces for her own signature. She'd laughed at him when he began rambling on about not wanting to pressure her and signed the papers before he even finished his thought. That was the day that the three of them officially became a family. They day that she officially became Marcos's mother.

But if she was being honest with herself, she became his mother long before that. She became his mother the moment she saw him. Those big brown eyes that made him look so much like his father had captured her in that very second. She became his mother the moment that Elena, through a letter she'd hidden in Marcos's crib, had asked her to love and protect him. She became his mother the first time she held him and promised that she would do just that.

Letty didn't know how long she'd been standing there, staring down at the little boy that had managed to steal her heart, when she heard Dom's voice behind her.

"You okay?"

Startled, she turned to face him. "Jesus, Dom."

He chuckled. "Sorry. You've been up here for a bit. You want to talk about it?"

Taking one last glance at the sleeping child, she followed Dom out to the hallway and into their bedroom.

"You okay?" Dom asked, perching himself on the bed. "I know that was kind of sudden."

"I was surprised, yes." Letty agreed. "I mean, we haven't been saying that around him. I don't know where he picked it up."

"Well, I may have had a little something to do with that."

"What do you mean?" She asked, taking a seat beside him on the bed.

"You know when I bring him in here to wake you up in the mornings?"

Letty nodded.

"I always tell him 'We're going to wake up Mama'." He admitted, unsure of what her reaction would be.

Tilting her head at this information, she whispered, "Oh."

Dom waited, but when she didn't add anything else, he spoke up. "Do you um, do you not want him to call you that?"

"No, no. I do." Letty quickly assured him. "I _am_ his mother now. I just can't help but feel a little guilty that I'm the one who gets to hear it." She sighed, sadly. "Elena will never hear that. She'll never hear him say all the new words he's going to learn. Or see his first steps. Or God forbid the day you buy him his first car."

They both chuckled at the thought.

Dom turned to her, grasping one her hands in his. "You don't have to feel guilty, Let. None of this is your fault. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. If I had never left you in the DR, you never would have gone after Braga, never would have gotten caught up with Owen, I never would have met Elena and,"

Cutting him off, she said, "And you wouldn't have that beautiful little boy in the next room. Your son. _Our_ son."

Dom couldn't help but smile as she referred to Marcos as hers.

It was the first time she'd said it out loud and she had to admit, it felt good to know that they didn't have to tiptoe around it anymore. Marcos was their son, her son. Maybe it wasn't the way she thought it would happen, but from the moment that little boy entered their lives, he became hers to love.

"Dom, we've made a lot of mistakes, the two of us. But I don't ever want you to think that little boy is one of them." Running a hand over his bald head, she rested her hand on the back of his neck. "We made our choices. Were they the wrong ones sometimes? Absolutely. But they got us here, to this day, and we're happy. He's happy." Dropping her hand, she shrugged. "I mean, who knows what would have happened if we would have stayed in the DR or jetted off to some overpopulated city to hide. Maybe we would have gotten caught, maybe not. But we wouldn't be free like we are today. You never would have met Hobbs, he never would have needed your help taking down Owen, and we never would have gotten those pardons. We'd still be running. Brian and Mia would still be running. We wouldn't have this life that we have now if we didn't make those decisions."

Dom grabbed one of her hands, threading and unthreading their fingers together before bringing it to his lips, placing a kiss to her knuckles. "We've come a long way, haven't we?"

"Oh yeah." Letty laughed. "That kid, he has no idea what he's going to find out about us one day."

Dom cringed at the thought. "What do you think he's going to do? Come running to us one day screaming about how badass we are?" He joked with a laugh.

Letty hummed and tilted her head. "You know what I think?"

"What?"

Leaning closer to him as though she was going to tell him a secret, she whispered, "I think he's going to want to be just like you." Tapping his thigh twice, she grinned and stood from the bed

Dom stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed after her. "What, that's not funny." He called after her, standing from the bed. "Come on, Let! That's not funny!" He chased after her, following the sound of her laughter.


End file.
